I have noticed several posts mentioning a bunch of out of state hunters on public land in Ark. I just wanted to share my experience with a group from South Carolina this past weekend.

Long story short; we scouted a bunch of spots and on some public land began killing limits of mallards with not too much pressure around us from other hunters. On the 3rd day we had a group of 3 guys come in pretty close but were very respectful of us and did not interfere with our killing at all. After killing a 4 man limit, we invited the guys over to the spot to hunt over our decoys and the proceeded to kill another 3 limits. Cant say enough about how courteous these guys were and appreciative of us extending that invite to them. I told them to show back up the next morning to hunt with us and they were right on time and even cooked us breakfast out there. Super nice guys.

This goes to show that a little common courtesy on the water can result in some amazing hunts. 28 mallards died that day to make our best hunt of the season followed by 22 mallards the next day. Once again, show a little respect to the hunters around you out there and see what happens. I bet you will have more pleasant experiences than not, wether you are the one on the "x" or not.

AaronR wrote:I have noticed several posts mentioning a bunch of out of state hunters on public land in Ark. I just wanted to share my experience with a group from South Carolina this past weekend.

Long story short; we scouted a bunch of spots and on some public land began killing limits of mallards with not too much pressure around us from other hunters. On the 3rd day we had a group of 3 guys come in pretty close but were very respectful of us and did not interfere with our killing at all. After killing a 4 man limit, we invited the guys over to the spot to hunt over our decoys and the proceeded to kill another 3 limits. Cant say enough about how courteous these guys were and appreciative of us extending that invite to them. I told them to show back up the next morning to hunt with us and they were right on time and even cooked us breakfast out there. Super nice guys.

This goes to show that a little common courtesy on the water can result in some amazing hunts. 28 mallards died that day to make our best hunt of the season followed by 22 mallards the next day. Once again, show a little respect to the hunters around you out there and see what happens. I bet you will have more pleasant experiences than not, wether you are the one on the "x" or not.

Good story, but my experience the past month with out of staters has been horrible. They want to roll in at 6:15 with their mud motors taking their sweet ass time. This happened twice this past weekend at Rainey Brake. Another weekend, we had a group of georgia boys roll in and set right on top of us...and again with mud motors...

Aaron Im pretty sure you were hunting with my uncle 'B'. He came home talking more about the guys he met and hunted with than the birds you all killed.Sure is great to know that thier is still comradery in this sport and that southern hospitality carries over to the swamps .HAPPY HOLIDAYS PS. WE ARE HEADED THAT WAY ON THE 26!

saltydog256 wrote:Aaron Im pretty sure you were hunting with my uncle 'B'. He came home talking more about the guys he met and hunted with than the birds you all killed.Sure is great to know that thier is still comradery in this sport and that southern hospitality carries over to the swamps .HAPPY HOLIDAYS PS. WE ARE HEADED THAT WAY ON THE 26!

Well I am glad to hear that. And yes us southerners can be easy to get along with if you remember 3 things: dont mess up my duck hunt, dont steal my beer, and dont mess with my ol lady! (in order of priorty) haha

There are good and bad hunters everywhere. Unfortunately, out of state guys seem to get classified as bad hunters. I've had two instances where I believe we were targeted because we had out of state plates. Both occurred at the same WMA. First, we had a dog box stolen from the back of the truck. We tried to blame it on the meth heads looking for some pawn shop booty. The second time the truck was keyed. I seriously doubt a meth head would travel to a ramp to key a vehicle. It makes you madder than a hornet and willing to set a trap and poke the perp's eye out with a .45. I strive to live my life by treating others with the respect that I would expect to receive. I truly believe there are more good hunters than bad out there, but unfortunately the bad ones end up ultimately ruining it for everyone with all the stupid stuff they do.

jdr wrote:Good story, but my experience the past month with out of staters has been horrible. They want to roll in at 6:15 with their mud motors taking their sweet ass time. This happened twice this past weekend at Rainey Brake. Another weekend, we had a group of georgia boys roll in and set right on top of us...and again with mud motors...

Must have been the same boy's that was down in my next of woods.. From GA, Mud motor, Came in at 6:00. their mojo was Setup 179yds away. (Range finders) We just sat quiet until around 8:30 and rolled out.

"Thomas Jefferson said I had a God-given right to pursue happiness. What makes me happy is to take a mallard's head smooth off at about 20 feet.

jdr wrote:Good story, but my experience the past month with out of staters has been horrible. They want to roll in at 6:15 with their mud motors taking their sweet ass time. This happened twice this past weekend at Rainey Brake. Another weekend, we had a group of georgia boys roll in and set right on top of us...and again with mud motors...

Must have been the same boy's that was down in my next of woods.. From GA, Mud motor, Came in at 6:00. their mojo was Setup 179yds away. (Range finders) We just sat quiet until around 8:30 and rolled out.

I feel your pain and have had similar experiences. We work and have limited time to hunt. Unfortunately, public lands are available to all good and bad hunters. We don't notice the good hunters because that's what we expects. The bad ones will pizz you off to no end.

jeffstally wrote:Just out of curiosity, why does someone having a mud motor make everyone mad?

I have no idea...I have owned a mud motor and have buddies that use em. I just use my outboard to get to the area fast and keep other out. mud motors come in next and tote all our stuff to where we set up. works out quite nice

Most of em are pretty good sports. I have a mud motor and an Edge 650 with an outboard, I also have a farm that we hunt, but I do hunt public as well,just depends on where I want to hunt. For someone to claim that out of state hunters with mud motors are douches is close minded at best.

Had some SC guys walk in at daylight and setup within a hundred yards of us a weekend or two ago... They sky busted like no other if it was treetop high it was getting shot at.. They ruined the few birds we got to work that day... I don't miss out on sleep and spend the money to go hunt to deal with that bull crap... They just so happened to be from SC and that's my first impression of SC guys I've had this season... That's why oosers get their bad rep.

We shot our limit one morning with a few guys in the area, don't know how close, but they were not shooting much. The next day, five guys walked inot our hole, one guy was clearly a guide saying he had three rookies and wanted to hunt with us, we told them we did not have room for 8 guns let alone three rookies, so the went abou 60 yds down wind of us a cut every duck we had working, and the guide wound up letting them have it for shooting cripples while his dog was in the water, talk about idiots........

we had to wait for them to leave and wound up only killing about six for the day. Now these boys were not from SC and most of the boys I hunt with are from Arkansas, so I know this is not common behavior. Every state has their share of idiots and people who just have no respect for anyone else, there are plenty of them to go around.